Those of you that have seen my posts on here know I am enamored with the new Gopro Hero Black edition. I've also been getting rid of all my heavier gear as I don't use it as much as I'd like to and in the winter I like to fly planes more. So the TPPacks Crab Quad and AG500 Gimbal was the perfect combo for me to keep up the aerial videography practice while minimizing my multi fleet. I also have loads of batteries for a multi rotor this size so more flight time when I do fly.

I received the quad, the gimbal and Hoverfly gimbal control the other day. I am still waiting on my Sunnysky 2216 motors and Naza. I have some Turnigy Plush 30a ESCs I am going to throw on there.

My first impressions:

The quad is amazingly light and simple to put together. It pretty much came assembled. I just have to put the arms and motor plates on and attach the landing gear, not much to it. Most of the time will probably go into soldering the escs to the distro board (Distro is not included. I am using a Multiwii Voltaire bought from Tony at RC Drones). I like that it comes with a battery tray up top and the same tray will house the Naza. It is a wonderful minimalist's quad. Oh, another great thing about it is it comes with the integrated LG and mounting location for their AG500 Gimbal.

The gimbal is a big improvement from the first gimbal I got from TPpacks, the ag550. It utilizes the same servos but also has potentiometers and aluminum and lighter composite arms. This one is sized for the gopro and maybe an rx100. I'm excited to use it as I got a Hoverfly Pro gimbal control to run it. I did not have a chance to use a dedicated gimbal control last time around so this is new, should get some better results.

I'll start putting it together tomorrow. I'll post pics of the progress.

What's neat about this quad is that you can build it out before you mount distro and electronics. A lot of room on this thing to navigate wires and ESC placement. I like being able to breath with the gear. My last build, carbon core Y6, was really tight. I love the real estate.

The first negative thing I noticed was that the arms were not tight in between the two main corner spacers so there was some play, it swayed back and forth. I fixed this by putting from foamy double sided tape in-between the spacer and the boom. It is really snug now. Maybe I should put a piece on each side, can't hurt and will dampen vibration some I guess.

The other tough thing is mounting the motor plates. Well, not so tough if you have some long thin needle nose players. I didn't happen to have long enough ones so i took a long hexw wrench and put some tacky glue on it and set the nut back there then pushed in a screw driver to put tension on the nut so i could tighten it.

So far LG and all this thing is really light. Can't wait to get my motors in.

Images

I'm looking forward to seeing this get in the air. This is actually the very first Crab. although it shares a lot with the Shrimp, we still need to test this before I will feel comfortable putting these up on the site.

I'm looking forward to seeing this get in the air. This is actually the very first Crab. although it shares a lot with the Shrimp, we still need to test this before I will feel comfortable putting these up on the site.

-- Gary

Sorry, I beg to differ. I believe I have the first crab. Oh no, I think Andrey has the first crab.

I'm looking forward to seeing this get in the air. This is actually the very first Crab. although it shares a lot with the Shrimp, we still need to test this before I will feel comfortable putting these up on the site.

-- Gary

It feels really sturdy now, and light. No rattle, creeks, clanks or anything. I think it will perform well. YOu guys should think about putting foam tubing around the spacers for the arms to be tighter.

actually you have the first production version of crab. both hansen and mine is narrower stance. yours can handle ag600. mine can't I will see about tightening up the spec a bit. I think I used to use #4 spacer but had ot got o#6 due to 3mm screw. that probably cause bit of slop. (not to mention there probably is tolerance change with the tubing as well) otherwise, I will just put in some foam tape.

also, you will really like the slight assymetrical shape in the air. very easy to see where it is going.

actually you have the first production version of crab. both hansen and mine is narrower stance. yours can handle ag600. mine can't I will see about tightening up the spec a bit. I think I used to use #4 spacer but had ot got o#6 due to 3mm screw. that probably cause bit of slop. (not to mention there probably is tolerance change with the tubing as well) otherwise, I will just put in some foam tape.

also, you will really like the slight assymetrical shape in the air. very easy to see where it is going.

I'm putting one of these on there. It blinds you at night and can see it clearly in the day.

Pretty much ready for control unit. Everything went together pretty easily. I mounted the distro, not pictured, under the bottom plate similar to how the top squares are mounted. ESCs fit nicely in between the plates. Once my Naza arrives I'll get some nice pics. Cheers!

Images

Got my gains all set and GPS tested. Flying straight and GPS hold is rock solid. Just need some smaller props, running 11" at the moment. I will set up gimbal once I reset with smaller props for higher disk loading

800kv, 4s 2500-5200mah. I'm not sure yet on what I will fly mostly. Gary recommended an mah, can't remember. Right now I am testing with 2500mah. I will fly with the highest possible battery weight at 4s. I have not measured weight yet. It is really light. most of the weight is coming from motors and the battery, It is much lighter than a f450.

I had a chance in between video gigs to mount the gimbal today. I still need to get the HF board and a BEC on there, calibrate and balance it. i wil have time tomorrow. There is a big wind coming through central FL today, hopefully it lets up this weekend.

I am really impressed so far as it is very streamlined, great for a gopro 3 black. Let's hope it performs well. This is the perfect rig for me as I do not acquire many aerial video gigs but something nice to keep me learning and able to do some aerials for productions if necessary.

Images

Things are coming along nicely. I finally got my hog board on and calibrated and balanced out the rig with go pro and battery. When I was setting up the HFG board I came across a weird problem. My HF gimbal would work while hooked up to the computer but not when it is only powered by battery. It appears Hoverfly didn't solder the jumper. My board did not have solder on this point it is just 3 lines no solder jumper like in this picture/diagram.

My board looked like this:
hence the problem. I then soldered a jumper and it now works fine.

The gimbal and rig are looking and balancing great. I did find another issue though. I do not like the way you have to take the gimbal off of the quad to move it forward or back for balancing. If there were a a way to slide it back and forth easily this thing would be very convenient.

I put on some smaller props and took it for a spin with the camera on it. The results were ok, won't really know until I get to post. I did hear some weird vibration in the audio. I don't think it was the props though as I balanced them pretty good although they are cheap carbon gem fans so maybe i'll get better results when I get some zingers or graupners.